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Langara College Becomes First Campus in Western Canada to Join Global Meatless Monday Initiative

VANCOUVER, March 26, 2015 /CNW/ - Next Monday, March 30th, Langara College will become the first campus in Western Canada to adopt the popular Meatless Monday initiative, joining hundreds of schools worldwide including McGill, Dalhousie, and Queen's, along with Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and U.C. Berkeley.

The initiative was introduced by Langara's food services provider, Chartwells—which is owned by Compass Group, one of the largest food services providers in the world—in response to student demand and in collaboration with the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS).

Meatless Monday is an international movement of schools, hospitals, municipalities, companies, and families that choose to ditch meat each Monday in favour of healthy, delicious, humane, and eco-friendly vegetarian options.

"Meatless Monday is an incredibly popular initiative that resonates with people from all walks of life because it is an easy, positive way for each of us to make a meaningful difference for animals, our health, and the planet," said Anna Pippus, special projects director for the VHS. "Our over-consumption of cheap meat has forced animals into factory farms, where they endure conditions and practices that most Canadians find appalling."

"The Vancouver Humane Society commends Chartwells at Langara for responding to student concerns about the impact our food choices have on the world. Chartwells has demonstrated industry leadership in putting Meatless Monday on the menu," she said.

Facts:

In 2014, 725 million animals were killed for food in Canada. Canadians eat almost 100 kg of meat per capita per year. The global average is less than 40 kg per capita.

According to Dietitians of Canada, plant-based eating has many health benefits, including lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

Due to livestock farming's inefficiencies, it is a major contributor to climate change, pollution, water use, land degradation and deforestation, biodiversity decline, and ocean degradation, sparking criticism from the United Nations and Chatham House, among many others.